Israeli race boils down to Barak, Netanyahu

Posted: Monday, May 17, 1999

The Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced off today against Ehud Barak, a career military man likely to revive peacemaking efforts with the Palestinians, as Israeli voters chose a new leader after a divisive campaign.

With the last two minor candidates dropping out Sunday, the contest was to be settled in a single ballot today. Netanyahu had hoped to push the race into a runoff, giving him two more weeks to campaign.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. today and were to close at 10 p.m.

Barak was planning last-minute blitzes in each of Israel's four major cities. Netanyahu, trailing in the polls, was set to begin his day with a prayer stop at Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall.

On Sunday, a combative Netanyahu nonetheless insisted: "I think we're going to win I know we're going to win." He lashed out at Barak, accusing him of running a dirty race and making underhanded deals with enemies of Israel.

Barak, surrounded by cheering supporters at an open-air news conference in a Tel Aviv suburb, promised to "lead to a better future for Israel, to change and hope."

He denied any deals with candidates who dropped out, but made a point of praising centrist Yitzhak Mordechai, who had withdrawn hours earlier.

Also quitting Sunday was ultranationalist lawmaker Ze'ev Binyamin "Benny" Begin, the intellectual but uncharismatic son of late Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Mordechai endorsed Barak for prime minister, but Begin did not come out in favor of either of the two candidates left in the race.

The latest polls gave Barak a solid lead. Pre-eminent pollster Hanoch Smith, in a survey conducted for Monday's newspapers, put Barak's lead at 8 to 10 percentage points, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Had Mordechai stayed in the contest, it would have been almost impossible for Barak to secure the 50 percent he needs to win.

Citing a "wave of hatred" unleashed by the electioneering, Mordechai said his big reason for pulling out of the contest was to avert a runoff.

"I am worried about what would happen I couldn't take the responsibility if it came to bloodshed," said the silver-haired, square-jawed former defense minister.

The specter of political violence still traumatizes Israelis in the wake of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination 31/2 years ago by an ultranationalist Jew who opposed ceding territory to the Palestinians. Rabin's daughter, Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, wept at Mordechai's side as he spoke.

In addition to the race for prime minister, 31 parties are vying for 120 seats in the Knesset, or parliament. Alongside Netanyahu's Likud and Barak's Labor, there are three parties representing immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Other parties include one whose platform is to legalize marijuana, another advocating meditation and a women's rights party led by a former beauty queen.

If Netanyahu were defeated, he would remain in office as a caretaker pri